Trace

After a devastating car accident kills Trace’s parents but miraculously spares him from injury, the African-American 13-year-old moves from Baltimore to Brooklyn to live with his idiosyncratic, lively Auntie Lea. Reliving the accident nightly in his dreams, Trace gamely attempts a new life at a New York City public school. While trying to make friends and keep up with his history study group’s research project on the 1860s, he spends time at the main branch of the New York Public Library, the site, he learns, of the Colored Orphan Asylum fire of 1863. Does the fire have anything to do with the small, “disheveled” black boy who seems to be following Trace around? Was Trace possibly “rescued by one ghost to go save another”? In her middle grade debut, Cummings (the Harvey Moon picture books) follows Trace’s progress as he begins to absolve himself from guilt about the accident, learn about his lineage, and understand his family’s position in history. Cummings introduces numerous plot threads and a large, multiethnic cast of characters, at times resulting in a scattered story, but she pulls everything together into a satisfying conclusion, especially for readers who think they might believe in ghosts. Agent: Marietta Zacker, Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency. Ages 8–12. [em](Apr.) [/em]